Performance and Communication Arts

Semester specific course descriptions

100. Beginning Ballet.
Fundamentals of classical ballet including barre, center work and across-the-floor movements with emphasis on body alignment and elements of ballet style. Material is presented in a progression from basic to more complex. Lectures consist of pertinent references to dance history, terminology, movement theory and dance films illustrating related subject matter. Elective only; does not count toward completion of major or minor.

101. Production Credit.
This is a practicum credit for acting in, assisting the director of or performing dramaturgical support for faculty-directed productions in the University Theatre. Students will be selected through the regular production audition process and credit will be determined in advance of auditions, based primarily on the size of the role or function and the time commitment involved in preparing/rehearsing and performing it. The faculty director of each production will set available credit units at either .25 or .5; a student may take up to 1 unit of Performance and Communication Arts 101. However, it is not necessary to take the credit to participate in the productions. Pass/fail grading only. Elective only, does not count toward completion of major or minor.

103. Stagecraft.
The study and practice of creating scenery for the stage, this course also explores the operation of the theater’s physical plant. Material is presented in lectures and is further illustrated through the activities of the production studio.

107. Beginning Acting.
An introduction to the basic mental and physical skills used in acting, including use of imagination, understanding of the self, character analysis, body flexibility and expression, and voice and diction. Coursework includes exploratory and centering exercises, improvisational techniques and scene and monologue study.

111. Rhetoric and Public Speaking.
An introduction to the art and skill of public speaking, focusing primarily on the construction and critique of persuasive discourse. Students study the classical rhetorical tradition as a continuing influence on the contemporary theory and practice of persuasion.

113. Introduction to Performance Studies.
The course engages students in the analysis and performance of texts other than dramas (e.g., poems, short stories, personal narratives). The course emphasizes analysis of the dramatic situation in texts, process-centered workshops and performance criticism.

125. Introduction to Dramatic Scripts.
Students are introduced to the formal aspects of play texts and develop the critical skills necessary to read plays and critique live and video performances. Representative dramas from the Greeks to the present are investigated in terms of character development, dialogue, settings and central ideas, as well as their original theatrical contexts: theatre architecture, stage conventions, scenic devices, costuming and acting techniques. The emphasis in this course is on analysis of scripts in terms of the relationship among performance conditions, cultural context and dramatic conventions. Also offered as English 125.

126. Persuasion: Analyzing Rhetorical Texts.
This course is designed to foster increased awareness of the diverse forms and functions of persuasion in contemporary society and to improve students’ ability to function as discriminating consumers of rhetorical texts. While the course includes extensive reading and analysis of public speeches, it is also intended to heighten student awareness of the presence of persuasive intent in texts not traditionally considered rhetorical, e.g., poems, plays, songs, paintings, music videos and news broadcasts.

127. Introduction to Communication Studies.
Communication, or the process of sending, receiving and interpreting information, is the foundation of our social enterprises and identities. This course is an introduction to the field of communication studies. It explores the forms, functions, techniques, technologies and institutions of human communication with the objective being to enhance our understanding of the complex dynamics of social interaction. By engaging in substantive ways with others and with the theories and ideas presented in the course, participants will learn tools to critically examine and improve their own and analyze others’ communication. Topics include communication and meaning; language, thought and communication; non-verbal communication; gender and communication; intercultural communication; and the mass media.

200, 300. Intermediate/Advanced Ballet.
Continuation of Performance and Communication Arts 100 and for students with previous experience in classical ballet. More advanced movement studies with emphasis on classical line, body alignment, projection and quality of movement. Prerequisite: PCA 100 or permission of instructor.

202. Sound for the Stage.
This course explores some of the artistic and practical aspects of using sound in support of theatrical productions. The course will employ concepts of design drawn from the theatre and apply those concepts to the choice of music and sound effects for the stage. It will explore the potential of sound and music for the reinforcement of dramatic content and production design concepts. In addition, the course will introduce the student to the production organization common to most theatre productions: the collaborative design process and the team approach to production assignments. The course’s practical assignments will provide support for the production needs of the departments of music and performance and communication arts and will include the use of audio equipment and software programs for the recording, editing and playback of sound. Also offered as Music 222.

203. Stage Lighting.
An investigation of theatrical lighting equipment and its applied use. A study of design concepts and theories used in producing drama, concerts and dance on the modern stage. The course includes a study of basic electricity, lighting instruments, computerized lighting control and design procedures. Materials are presented in a lecture/demonstration format and are further explored in the lighting lab and departmental productions. Prerequisite:    PCA 103.

204. Costume History and Construction.
This course explores the artistic and practical aspects of designing costumes for performance. Through a series of projects students will analyze the costume requirements for various plays, research period fashions and develop costume designs for specific characters and productions. Throughout the course we will discuss working with directors, collaborating with other designers, locating resources, planning and budgeting for a show. The lab component of the course will focus on sewing and patterning skills, selecting fabrics and a variety of craft techniques including mask making, millinery and fabric dyeing.

207. Characterization.
An intensive study of the acting process building on skills developed in Beginning Acting. The course focuses on character develop­ment in psychological realism and is intended to expand the actor’s range with both scene and monologue work, as well as to expand skills in voice/body integration to create character and analysis and script scoring techniques. Prerequisite: PCA 125 and PCA 107.

209. Acting Styles.
A concentrated study of three theatrical styles: Greek tragedy, Elizabethan drama and comedy of manners. The course includes reading and research on the theatre and culture of each historical period, followed by an intensive exploration of their vocal and physical styles through guided improvisations, exercise and scene study. Prerequisite: PCA 107.

211. Advanced Public Speaking.
Intensive study of the principles and practices of researching, organizing, writing, delivering and criticizing persuasive speeches. Students employ contemporary theories of persuasion to analyze a variety of rhetorical situations. Students construct persuasive speeches for different speaking situations in order to develop critical and practical skills. Prerequisite: PCA 111.

212, 213. Special Topics in Rhetoric/Communication Studies.
This course is designed to allow students’ needs to dictate the availability of certain introductory courses not always offered by the department. May occasionally fulfill major requirements.

214. Group Performance.
This course focuses on the process of adapting and staging non-dramatic texts (e.g., novels, short stories, poems) for group performance. The class emphasizes the process of selecting, adapting, scripting and rehearsing texts for group performance. Scripting and performance work includes choral reading, installations, chamber theatre, rituals and social activist performances. Prerequisite: PCA 107 or PCA 113.

215. Dramatic Texts in Context.
How does a director decide what play to do and the style in which to do it? Answers to these questions are the guiding principles for the investigation of staging practices and plays that span from ancient Greece to those of 19th-century Europe. Students examine how theatrical spaces, scenery and props altered the theatre-going experience. In the end, we focus attention on how knowing the theatrical and cultural contexts of plays can help theatre practitioners make informed choices. Also offered as English 215.

216. Argumentation and Debate.
Study of the nature and functions of argument: the classical and contemporary concepts of rationality, truth, knowledge and models of argument; and the evaluation of argument in formal and ordinary language situations. Students participate in several argumentation and debate assignments to develop critical and practical skills. Prerequisite: PCA 111.

221. Intercultural Communication
This course explores theoretical and rhetorical frames around culture, cultural difference, and cultural encounter with the purpose to enable participants to become more culturally sensitive and effective communicators. We will critique models of intercultural communication that simply examine face-to-face interaction and explore how representations of and discourses about culture and cultural difference circulate and help to shape our identities, meanings and interactions.

222. Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication refers to interaction between people. This course examines the social situations in which people create and maintain interpersonal relationships. We will also explore the myriad social and cultural factors that impinge upon the success of these relationships. While our primary focus will be on the ways in which interpersonal relationships are created and maintained in U.S. cultures, comparisons to non-U.S. cultural practices will also be made. Topics include identity, relationship formation, family, friendship, intimacy, gender and sexualities, relationships at school and work, conflict, and digitally mediated interpersonal communication. Prerequisite: PCA 127.

223. Playwriting.
This course explores the processes of composition characteristic of the playwright. In a series of weekly assignments, various aspects of the art are introduced, e.g., characterization, dialog, dramatic action and others. The course concludes with the writing of a 10-minute play. Students read exemplary plays from the modern repertoire. Also offered as English 223.

225. Rhetoric and Communication: Theory and Practice for Peer Mentors
This .5-unit course is designed to train students who will work as rhetoric and communication mentors. The course seeks to cultivate a broad and sophisticated understanding of rhetoric and communication, both in the context of the classroom and in the context of communication with faculty and students. We will combine discussion of theories of rhetoric and communication, as well as peer tutoring theory, with discussions of pedagogy and practice in such areas as assignment design and evaluation, peer response and evaluation, and collaboration with faculty. A major component of this course involves students designing and delivering messages and engaging in peer evaluation/critique.

226. Introduction to Japanese Drama.
A study of Japanese drama in its historical, theatrical and literary aspects from the classical theatres of Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku to the modern New Theater and avant-garde experiments. The growth and characteristics of each theatre are examined as a living tradition in the broad cultural context of Asia, Japan and the West, with the use of films. Readings are in English. Elective only, does not count toward completion of major or minor. Also offered as Modern Languages (Literature in Translation) 226.

244. Techniques of Screenwriting
An introductory study of basic technical problems and formal concepts of screenwriting. The study of produced screenplays and formal film technique, along with writing scene exercises, builds toward the construction of a short (50-minute) script.  Also offered as English 244 and through Film Studies.

255. African American Drama.
African-American drama is a tradition that has unique themes and forms with sources in African ritual, language; gesture and folklore; the Southern Baptist Church; the Blues; and jazz. Through this course, students will examine plays, read essays, view videos and listen to music to discover the qualities that make this drama a vital resource of African American culture and an important social and political voice. Playwrights include Amiri Baraka, Adrienne Kennedy, George C. Wolfe, Alive Childress, Ntozake Shange, Ed Bullins and August Wilson. Also offered as English 255 and through U.S. Cultural and Ethnic Studies.

270. Collaboration Across the Arts
The direction of this course is determined largely by the unique combination of students who participate. At the beginning of the semester, students will form groups of two or three to work on a collaborative project of their own design reflecting their collective interests. For example, a pair of students may create a multimedia work that draws connections between image and sound. This is only one type of project, as students working in visual art, music, video, film, drama, rhetoric, writing or any number of other disciplines may wish to participate. Class sessions will feature group critiques of works in progress, study of example works, discussions of relevant aesthetic issues, drawing connections across media and strategies for collaborative work. Permission of the instructor is required. Also offered as Music 270 and Fine Arts 270.

306. Advanced Screenwriting Workshop
An extension and intensification of PCA 244. Students are expected to work independently on the preparation of two feature-length screenplays. Workshop format emphasizes the revision and editing process. Prerequisite: PCA 244. Also offered as English 306 and through Film Studies.

309. Directing.
This course provides the advanced student with practical skills and an understanding of directing methods, including intensive script analysis, concept development and articulation, composition/picturization and collaboration with other theatre artists. Prerequisites: PCA 125 and PCA 107 or PCA 113; or permission of instructor; PCA 103 is recommended.

312, 412. Special Topics in Rhetoric/ Communication Studies.
This course is designed to allow students’ needs to dictate the availability of certain courses not always offered by the department. Topics might focus on dramatic theory and criticism, rhetorical theory and criticism, the plays of a particular author or the speeches of a particular person or period.

313, 413. Special Topics in Theatre/ Performance Studies
This course is designed to allow students’ needs to dictate the availability of certain courses not always offered by the department. Topics might focus on voice and movement for the theatre, performance art, the performance of farce or the performance of nonfiction texts.

315. Gender and Communication.
Gender encompasses the ways in which our culture and society construct performative expectations around our sex. We do not possess gender; gender is a social process. It is negotiated, it is cultural, it is complicated, and it is enacted. Communication and gender are, therefore, inextricably linked. The process of doing gender is a communicative endeavor. And how, when, with whom and about what we communicate are linked to cultural scripts around gender.  All of our communications have a gendered component and all gender performances are, by definition, communicative. In this course, we will explore some of the many contexts, media and modalities in and through which communication and gender intersect. We will examine both how we perform gender and how we become gendered through the processes of social interaction. Prerequisite: PCA 127 or GNDR 103.

316. Advanced Communication Studies
This course surveys contemporary theories and principles of human communication and complements this inquiry with practical exercises designed to test and explain the theories. Course material focuses on interpersonal communication, non-verbal communication, mass communication, intercultural communication and the relationship between gender and communication. Prerequisite: PCA 127.

319, 320. Shakespeare.
An intensive study of Shakespeare’s plays; 319 concentrates on Shakespeare’s histories, comedies and romances, while 320 focuses on the tragedies. Prerequisites: PCA 125 or English 110 and one 200-level English literature course; or two 200-level English courses. Also offered as English 319, 320 and through European Studies.

322. Native American Oral Traditions
This course examines the oral literatures of Native Americans and the incorporation of the oral tradition into written texts. Native American oral traditions are examined using written texts, videos and live performances. With a focus on origin stories, mythic heroes, personal narratives and contemporary poetry and fiction, the course considers Native American views of storytelling, family, religion/cosmogony and language. Also offered through Native American Studies.

323. South African Drama: Voices of Protest and Selfhood.
This course introduces students to the theatrical developments in South Africa in the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. The purpose is to foster awareness of the potency of drama for political protest and for social change in post-colonial Africa. Issues about gender and racial discrimination, as well as the challenge of technocracy and European values to traditional beliefs and customs, are the primary focuses for study. Also offered as English 323 and through African Studies.

324. Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama.
A study of English popular drama, 1580 to 1640. Prerequisites: two lower-level English courses. Also offered as English 324 and through European Studies.

326. American Public Address
A study of American history through examination of the speeches of spokespersons for social, political, legal and religious institutions and movements. From Thomas Jefferson to George Bush, from Susan B. Anthony to Phyllis Schlafly, from George Wallace to Martin Luther King Jr.: a study of the impact of rhetorical strategies upon ideas and events and of ideas and events upon rhetorical strategies.

327. Drama By and About Women
Using theoretical writings and dramatic scripts, this course will ask you to discover what, if anything, is different about your reading experiences when you encounter drama written by women about women as opposed to prior experiences with reading drama written by men. Although the foundations of this course are rooted in a variety of feminist perspectives, it will focus on a way of reading rather than on any one of a group of political stances. You will not be expected to identify yourself as feminist, womanist, or anti-feminist, nor will you be required to empathize with the characters. What will be expected is that you respond subjectively to the voices of women articulated in these plays and, at the same time, use your critical skills to comprehend the social, historical and cultural contexts which shaped them. Prerequisite: PCA 125 or permission.

329. Rhetoric of Social Movements.
This course examines the rhetorical strategies employed in contemporary American social movements (civil rights, Vietnam/anti-war movement, women’s liberation, American Indian Movement, and gay and lesbian rights). Cultural texts, speeches, manifestos, sit-ins, marches and songs drawn from each of these calls for change are examined and interpreted using a variety of rhetorical theories.

330. Ritual Studies.
Ritual controls and liberates, ritual creates and destroys, ritual shapes and re-shapes. Arguably, ritual is the basis of drama, religion, even civilization as we understand it. Animals do it; so do humans. Is ritual merely a cultural construction, reflecting the ways humans construe the world, or are there biogenetic impulses at work that generate in all living beings a search for cosmic orientations that result in patterned behaviors called ritual? What counts as ritual? High Mass, brushing your teeth, beauty pageants? Where do rituals come from? How do they change? What roles do they fulfill with regard to human need and desire? Are contemporary North Americans suffering from a lack of ritualization? How does ritual influence warfare, courtship, marriage, burial, birthing? This course addresses questions such as these and many more regarding the ways humans (and some animals) use (and mis-use) ritual behaviors.

331. Presidential Campaign Rhetoric
This course, which is taught once every four years, examines the diverse forms and functions of rhetoric within the context of presi-dential election campaigns, paying particular attention to that year’s election. Throughout the course of the semester, you will en­­gage in a variety of formal and informal oral and written exer­-cises related to the persuasive strategies candidates, the media and independent organizations use to advance their agendas. The course will pay particular attention to stump speeches, convention speeches, political debates, political advertising, campaign web sites, political cartoons and news coverage of elections.

338. 20th-Century Avant-Garde.
Students are exposed to theoretical writings, dramatic texts and performances that reflect the continuing experimentation in the theatre since the 1890s. Students examine artistic reactions to a post-Darwinian and post-Freudian worldview and are exposed to the various methods in which playwrights and theatre practitioners have grappled with finding new ways of articulating what it means to be human in an industrialized world. Prerequisites: PCA 125 or PCA 215 or permission of instructor. Also offered as English 338 and through European Studies.

340. Performance Art
The question “What is performance art?” has vexed theorists, critics and practitioners. While some view performance art as a reaction against the strictures of the theatre, others see it as a reac-tion against commodification in the art world. While some view it as an assault on bourgeois high art, others see it as an assault on good taste and basic moral values. In this course students will read essays about the historical tradition of performance art and the relationship between performance art, theatre, dance and the visual arts. We will also consider the work of a variety of contemporary performance artists: Karen Finley, Spaulding Gray, Laurie Anderson, Rachel Rosenthal and Pina Bausch. But most of all, students will learn about performance art by doing it — by engaging in the process of creating and producing their own performance art pieces. Prerequisite: PCA 107 or PCA 113 or permission.

355. Studies in World Dramatic Literature.
The study of dramatic literature primarily produced outside the United States and Great Britain. Focus may be upon cultural coherence (e.g., Francophone dramatic literature), discrete dramatic movements on a particular continent (e.g., South African drama), shared thematic concerns (e.g., the role of women) or a period-specific examination of non-Anglo drama. Prerequisite: varies.

400. Independent Study in Ballet.
Supervised research or project on an independent basis. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Elective only, does not count toward completion of major or minor.

430. SYE: Senior Seminar.

480. Independent Study
Supervised research on an independent basis. Students wishing to register for independent project credit must submit a proposal for approval before registering for this course. Proposals are due two weeks before the end of classes in the semester before you wish to do the independent study. Proposal guidelines are available in the Arts Office (Noble Center 105); proposals should be submitted directly to the faculty member you wish to supervise the independent study. Only juniors and seniors may propose independent projects. Prerequisite: permission of department chair. Elective only, does not count toward completion of major or minor.

489/490. SYE: Senior Project.
The senior project is a capstone designed to allow students to demonstrate their ability to synthesize the analytical and practical skills associated with the discipline. Only those students who have had their senior project proposal approved by the department may register for this course. Proposal guidelines are available in the Arts Office (Noble Center 105). Students enrolled in PCA 489/490 are assigned a senior project advisor who is solely responsible for overseeing the execution and evaluation of the project.

498/499. SYE: Honors Senior Project
The senior project is a capstone designed to allow students to demonstrate their ability to synthesize the analytical and practical skills associated with the discipline. Only those students who have had their senior project proposal approved by the department may register for this course. Proposal guidelines are available in the Arts Office (Noble Center 105). Students enrolled in PCA 498/499 are assigned a three-person senior project committee, one of whom will be designated as the student’s primary senior project advisor, with the other two serving as readers. Students enrolled in PCA 498/499 must orally defend their senior project.